"we accept the love we think we deserve": The Perk of Being a Wallflower - Max B-M.

    The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is one of my favorite movies and probably my favorite book. The story focuses on Charlie, a high school freshman lacking any friends. He befriends a group of seniors and they show him what it feels like to be truly loved, along with meeting a teacher who helps him both academically and socially, providing advice for both. Charlie navigates through a lot of mental health struggles including PTSD from childhood trauma and there’s quite a bit of high school drama (he dates two of the seniors which is a bit creepy but we’re just not going to think about that). 

    The film is very well made and shows a lot of mental health experiences in the way they feel (there’s a panic attack scene that just encapsulates what it feels like). 

    The book is written in the form of letters, sent from Charlie to an anonymous person. This method was apparently suggested to Charlie by his therapist to cope with some of his loneliness after losing his best friend to suicide in the year prior. These letters are always addressed “Dear Friend” with no further information. Charlie says in the first paragraph of the book that he will use other names for the people, or “characters,” in his life to keep whoever is reading his letters from finding him. This shows that whoever he’s writing to is a real person, but he wishes to never know them, and for them to do the same for him. It is unclear if this person writes back or not, and if they do, the contents are not included in the novel, nor are they ever discussed from Charlie’s perspective. 

    I think that this method of writing a book is extremely beautiful. It’s unreliable, but that’s part of what makes it so enjoyable. It shows the character’s experience in the rawest form, where they are telling someone else what happened. Charlie’s ability to communicate directly to the reader makes a lot of what he says and what happens more impactful. 

    If this story was simply told from a third-person perspective, it would lack the utter feeling behind every word communicated. It is truly a beautiful story that encapsulates a multitude of emotions, allowing many to relate to certain parts, whether it be Charlie himself or one of the other complex characters he writes about. 

The novel begins with:

“Dear Friend, 

    I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn’t try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have. Please don’t try to figure out who she is because then you might figure out who I am, and I really don’t want you to do that. I will call people by different names or generic names because I don’t want you to find me. I didn’t enclose a return address for the same reason. I mean nothing bad by this. Honest.” This shows the layer of reliance put on “friend,” along with Charlie’s deep insecurity and almost embarrassment with the intense wish to remain unknown. 

The novel ends with: 

    “So, if this does end up being my last letter, please believe that things are good with me, and even when they’re not, they will be soon enough. 

    And I will believe the same about you.” This shows the trust built up and the knowledge that Charlie has gained on how to help himself when things are “bad again,” allowing himself to need “friend” less and less as he grows. 

        Anyway, this book is really good and a relatively short read (213 pages but it's not super dense writing or anything). The movie is also great and does a pretty great job of illustrating the original story (it was also written and directed by Stephen Chbosky). Overall, fantastic story and I’ve been obsessing over it for far too long. 

Thanks!